Timeline
by percychased
Summary: She had just laughed and thought 'how very Oliver,' when he had handed her a book entitled 'How to Become the Best Chaser You Can Be' with a proud smile on his face.T. Katie/Oliver.


_A/N: Fluffy. So fluffy. And about the innuendo - ah, well. I couldn't help it. Broom_sticks or_ Quaffles, geddit... geddit? I don't blame you if you don't... *sigh*. For the Diagon Alley Fic Crawl Challenge, category Rosa Lee Teabag. I wrote this all in one sitting (a rarity for a reason) because Canadian weather is clearly bipolar guys, last week it was a snowstorm and now it's beach-worthy and I'm so very confused and I don't know what to do._

_Enjoy._

:-:

At thirteen, she was young and naive and trying to act _way _older than she was. Boys became appealing, and she would have blushing, stuttering encounters with them at the Three Broomsticks over a butterbeer.

He was her Quidditch captain, sixteen, and completely out-of-her-league. Kind of one of the guys her dormmates would admire in Witch Weekly from afar.

:-:

Maybe it was a little bit more than an unrequited crush. Maybe, perhaps, she liked the way he stretched out the syllables of her name when he said _Kaaatieee_ while trying to get her attention during practice because she would be daydreaming about him (not that she'd ever admit it, of course). Or the way that he knotted his fingers together when he was nervous.

Not that she had ever noticed.

:-:

Her fourteenth birthday was her favorite birthday, of all the days she had lived, Katie decided. Alicia had gotten her a broom-care guide and kit, and she'd even had a brief peck on the lips with a boy in her year she'd recently taken a fancy to.

She had just laughed and thought _How very Oliver _when he had handed her a book entitled 'How to Become the Best Chaser You Can Be' with a proud smile on his face.

That night she had read the book cover to cover in a speed that could rival Hermione Granger.

:-:

That guide came in handy in her fourth year when that mass murderer was on the loose and Quidditch was becoming more intense than ever. The almost-fifteen-year-old Katie would find it _just so adorable _when Oliver (she only called him Wood out loud - in her head, he was _Oliver_) ran his fingers through his hair when he was frustrated, mussing it up.

It made her want to run _her _fingers through his hair.

:-:

A few weeks after her birthday the twins found out - she had never told anybody, how in the name of Merlin would they know?- and did _not _stop taking the mickey out of her for it.

They had even offered to help her get over him with an evil glint in their eyes, because he was so _clearly _having a love affair with the Quidditch Pitch. They had also tried to convince her that he _might _just not be into women.

The duo even went as far as to ask Oliver straight-up in front of her, using crude gestures to various parts of female and male anatomy, if he'd rather broom_sticks _or _Quaffles_, and she was pretty sure they would get dizzy from all of the laughing they had done when he had innocently proclaimed 'broomsticks.'

The Weasley twins could turn anything into a sexual innuendo, she had found out.

:-:

In her fifth year, the year after he had graduated, Katie mostly followed him in magazines, but without him _actually _at Hogwarts to furiously rant at Fred and George about the importance of being on time for practices, it was no use.

Oliver hadn't really stayed in touch, but she couldn't blame him - he was probably living the dream, playing for Puddlemere.

So she met a nice boy in Ravenclaw named Ed who she happened to like and they had dated briefly. He was cute, too, and the perfect gentleman. The Yule Ball had to be her favorite moment in all of her Hogwarts' years - Katie had wished it would never end, spinning 'round and 'round in Ed's arms.

:-:

Katie's sixth year was hell. Very much so. Umbridge was basically banishing fun from Hogwarts and she lived with the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach that all of her friends would be leaving Hogwarts in mere months - the twins (no matter how much they annoyed her), Alicia, Angelina.

N.E.W.T preparation was killing her (they _just _finished O. ! It wasn't until the end of seventh year that she would be _actually _taking N.E. , so why start now?

:-:

Could she even call it a seventh year? In October, she and her Hufflepuff friend Leanne had made their way down to Hogsmeade, planning on stopping at the Three Broomsticks. She hadn't remembered anything from the moment she ducked into the loo, until waking up surrounded by Healers with official badges in late April.

Katie's mother had fawned over her, shedding tears of pure relief and joy and all of her Hogwarts graduate friends had stopped in, saying hello while she was still under watch at St. Mungo's.

Including Oliver, to her immense shock.

:-:

It was like he hadn't changed one bit since he was eighteen; the last time she saw him in person. Now _she _was eighteen and he was twenty-one.

"Long time, no see," she said, a little bit tired from one of the healing potions Katie had taken earlier.

"Yeah," he replied, a bit sadly.

He didn't say anything so she decided to kick-start the conversation. "How's Puddlemere going? Brought up from the reserve team, I hear?"

Katie saw the twinkle in his eyes and she felt like a thirteen year old all over again. "Yes, I have! You should see these plays they make, astounding, I love it..." Helooked at her and oddly stopped his rant suddenly to grab onto her hand.

"Is it a bit weird," Oliver asked, switching topics completely, "to say that I was _extremely _worried when I heard about you even though we've had no contact in so long?"

"A bit, yeah," laughed Katie. Her eyes flickered to their joined hands, him sitting at her bedside.

"I was," he admitted, simply. "I guess... I always thought we were invincible, you know. Not just us, but our _team, _even Harry. Like dangerous things might happen, but we'll always get better... so I guess I was kind of deluded."

Katie shrugged. "We all are."

"And," Oliver breathed, "after you're out of here, maybe we could have a little Katie-got-better thing together? It's alright if you-"

"That sounds lovely," said Katie in a voice breathier then usual.

"Great," he said, in a cheery voice, and after looking unsure for a moment planted a swift peck on her cheek, and Katie's cheeks turned red. Oliver got up to leave, and just as she was watching the back of him exit, he pivoted around and said,

"The twins may have said something about a crush at Hogwarts..."

He left before she could say something else, and Katie's cheeks were still a deep red color when the Healer strode in and asked her if she was alright, because she looked a little out-of-it.


End file.
